Month: January 2022
How to Create a Live Streaming Concert Platform like Veeps
Concert streaming market overview
According to Marketwatch, the video streaming market is expected to reach $102 billion by 2023 and grow at a CAGR of almost 21% between 2019 and 2023. Everything from TV shows, movies, and sports to video game tournaments and other events is streamed on large platforms like Netflix, Hulu, HBO, and Amazon Prime.
Competing with these giants that invest billions of dollars every year in producing content isn’t possible for most streaming platforms, so they choose to go niche, streaming specific events, types of shows, and more. Veeps is an emerging platform with its own specialization — live concerts.
According to a Livestream and New York Magazine survey, 67% of viewers who watch a live video of an event are more likely to purchase a ticket to a similar in-person event, so the notion that online concert streaming will kill offline concerts is false.
Concert streaming is lucrative not only for concert organizers and performers but for streaming services as well. According to the same survey mentioned above, 45% of online audiences are willing to pay for live, exclusive, or on-demand video from a favorite performer.
In 2020 and 2021, concert live streaming couldn’t be more relevant. According to the MIDiA Virtual Concerts Report, from June 2020 to November 2020, the share of live streamed concerts on Bandsintown grew from 1.9% to 40.7%, and the total ticketed revenue grew by 292% from December 2020 to June 2020. Overall sales of tickets to online concert streams generated $0.6 billion in 2020. In 2021, with many countries experiencing even more severe COVID-19 waves, the tendency will continue.
If you’re thinking about what niche you could tap into, this article is for you. You’ll find out how to build your own streaming platform and make money with it. We’ll talk about business models, investments, the software you’ll need, and the main features such software should have. Now let’s discuss how to create a video streaming website like Veeps and succeed.
What is Veeps and why should you care?
Veeps is one of a live concert streaming platform co-founded by Joel Madden, Benji Madden, Kyle Heller, and Sherry Saeedi in 2017. In 2020, Veeps helped artists earn over $10 million through selling tickets to live streamed shows.
Recently, Veeps has equipped over 60 Live Nation Entertainment venues with live streaming equipment where artists can stream their performances anytime.
Live Nation Entertainment is the leading entertainment company in the US, and they acquired the majority of Veep shares for an undisclosed sum. This acquisition promises lots of concerts will be available to wide audiences all across the world.
Veeps business model
Unlike many other streaming platforms that earn money through subscriptions, Veeps sells tickets to online concerts just like a regular event organizer and charges a 15% service fee on top of the ticket price.
Veeps takes 5% commission from the artist’s revenue, which is low compared to the 15% to 20% other ticket services usually charge
For example, if the ticket price is $10, Veeps will charge $11.50 to fans. The $10 ticket price goes directly to the performer, and the service fee of $1.50 goes to Veeps. Also, Veeps takes 5% commission from the artist’s revenue, which is low compared to the 15% to 20% other ticket services usually charge.
For performers, it’s completely free to join the Veeps platform and broadcast shows online. What does Veeps provide apart from their platform?
Veeps key features
Let’s review the key features that Veeps offers to viewers, performers, and organizers to bring them together and provide the best concert experience.
Viewer features
- Login and onboarding
Login and onboarding on Veeps is available only through email, which is natural, as all ticket purchase confirmations are sent by email. Even if you integrate other ways to log in, for example through a phone number or social media accounts, you’ll still probably need users’ email addresses.
- Personal profile
A personal profile contains information about the viewer, account settings, information about upcoming concerts, and the viewer’s current and past orders. Viewers can enter concerts via their personal profiles by clicking on Tickets, and joining the stream for a scheduled concert.
- Settings
In the settings part of the Veeps website, viewers can add a photo and change their username, set their location, choose a new password, and add a credit card to pay for tickets.
- Concert listings and recommendations
The main page of the Veeps website shows all kinds of concerts available on the platform. Here, viewers can choose from categories like Popular, Just Announced, Trending, Next Up, and On Demand. Viewers can also browse artists and venues, which include concert halls, theaters, art hubs, museums, and music halls.
- On-demand and live concerts
Mostly, Veeps offers viewers live events that are streamed as they happen and won’t be repeated. However, if artists decide to, concerts can be streamed on demand or stay available for a particular amount of time on the website. This decision depends solely on the wishes of artists, who set the rules for streaming their concerts.
- Tickets
In the Tickets section, viewers are able to see all their tickets, check the schedule of events, and enter a stream when a concert starts. According to the Veeps terms of service, viewers can’t return tickets unless a concert is cancelled.
- Gift tickets
Often, ticket services allow users to gift their tickets or transfer them to other users’ accounts on an online concert platform. Veeps states that they don’t have this feature yet, but they’re planning to roll it out soon. For now, each user can access the concert only from a Veeps account that the tickets were purchased from.
- Search
Veeps allows viewers to search for specific events and artists on the platform. They don’t use filters, just keyword search.
- Media player
A media player allows viewers to watch concerts in varying quality. To implement video streaming capabilities in your virtual concert platform, you’ll need to choose a media player and a streaming protocol, integrate a CDN, and more.
- AirPlay and Samsung TV integration
Live streams are available on the Veeps website and mobile devices. However, if viewers have AirPlay, they can stream concerts on their TV. Samsung TV also supports streaming via Veeps.
Artist features
- Signup and login
From the start, Veeps requires a photo, the name and genre of an artist, and their contact email address. According to Veeps, before accepting an artist to the platform, the company goes through a vetting process to check if the artist is real.
After being approved, an artist receives an email and gets their own Artist Relations assistant who helps to set up streams and collect revenue after concerts.
- Artist profile
The artist profile contains information about the artist and settings where the artist can edit information and manage their experience on the platform.
- Communication tools
Veeps provide a custom messenger and a communication tool where artists and their managers can communicate with fans and share information they wouldn’t normally share. According to Sherry Saeedi, this communication tool allows artists to send mass emails and text messages to their fans at any time, whether it’s just a thank you note after the concert or content fans won’t be able to get anywhere else.
- Artist dashboard
The artist dashboard is the main tool for streaming concerts. Here, artists can specify concert dates, venues, and ticket prices. They can add different ticket tiers that may include merch or exclusive content.
In the artist dashboard, artists can also see their stats: how many people have bought their tickets, sign-up dynamics on different dates, total revenue, etc.
These are the most important Veeps features that set the standard for a live concert streaming product. What else can you add to make your service better?
Extra features for a live concert streaming platform
To create the best concert streaming app on the market, consider adding extra features for better user experience.
- Social media login
Give your users several options to sign up and log in to their accounts on your platform. Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat are the most popular social media options for signing up and logging in.
- Personalized recommendations
Provide users with personalized recommendations based on their preferences. You can allow users to add preferences in their accounts and can analyze their previous purchases for better personalization.
- More streaming features
Bring users together with more streaming features, such as screen sharing or the ability to comment.
- Subscription and feed
You can make your platform a portal for fan communication and news and allow users to subscribe to certain artists and get news about them in a convenient feed.
- Notifications
Keep your users up to date with the latest news, new concerts, upcoming events, and any changes in the live stream schedule via notifications. This feature works best in mobile applications.
- Social sharing
Allow your users to share upcoming events on social media and get more people to know about your platform.
It’s also a good idea to create a livestream concert platform for mobile audiences. Since most users watch videos on their phones, it’s important to provide the best mobile experience. Currently, Veeps offers a mobile application only to artists, and viewers are limited to the web platform or TV.
How to create a live streaming platform for concerts like Veeps
Building a successful concert streaming platform requires both technical and business expertise. You’ll need to create connections and business partnerships with concert promoters, creators, artists, organizers, and venues. You’ll also need to create software that will bring artists and viewers together.
Let’s talk about the technical part of your business.
Step 1. Formulate your product vision
To build a live concert streaming app, you first need to define your product’s vision. You may just have an idea of how your business should work, or you may have a more definite list of features. In any case, you need to know your audience, including their needs and preferences, and you need to do competitor research to find out the current expectations on the concert live streaming market.
Step 2. Define your business model
How exactly are you planning to earn money? Come up with your monetization model. For most streaming services, these are the most popular strategies:
- Subscriptions
- Advertisements
- Freemium model
However, if you plan to sell tickets to online events, it’s more natural to charge a fee for each purchase and also take a commission from an artist’s revenue.
Step 3. Find a software development vendor
Now you need to find a development team that will help you create your platform. To find developers, you can ask for recommendations, look at portfolios, and browse listing websites like Clutch and GoodFirms. I advise you to interview your potential vendors to make sure communication is great. This includes command of English, cultural compatibility and overall impression on the vendor’s professionalism.
A good vendor will suggest the best technology for live streaming concerts that will work well in the long run and be flexible enough to provide steady streams to a large number of users.
Step 4. Choose a platform, hosting, and storage
To build a streaming platform, you need to choose a:
- Video streaming protocol, like RTMP or WebRTC
- Streaming platform, like AWS
- Content delivery network (CDN), like Amazon Chime, AWS CloudFront, or Agora.io
Step 5. Create a unique UI/UX design
UI and UX design is vital for modern live streaming concert platforms, so make sure you invest money and effort into making your service both beautiful and convenient for viewers and for artists who will stream their shows online.
Support and personal assistants are also part of your UX design, so make sure you help artists and organizers use your platform correctly.
Step 6. Build and test your MVP
After you’ve developed your vision, created the UI and UX, and come up with your business plan, it’s time to test the waters. A good software development vendor will help you translate your business goals into concrete functionality and prepare a technical specification for your product.
Build an MVP first so you can start gaining your first users and change your product according to the market response
A technical specification is a document that contains all information about your concert streaming platform and its features, your development plan, technologies, and third-party services.
You and your vendor will extract the features for your minimum viable product and develop them first so you can start gaining your first users and change your product according to the market response.
Step 7. Roll out new features and improve your product
Now that your first version of the software is up and running, it’s time to check analytics, search for any bottlenecks in the user experience, and listen to feedback. Market your product, support and maintain it, and add new requested features that will help you outcompete similar platforms.
Final thoughts
Veeps is a live concert streaming service that sells concert tickets to millions of people around the world. It currently has few competitors, but as COVID-19 has shifted most of our lives online, the demand for connecting with artists online is growing.
If you want to create your own concert streaming platform, Veeps is an amazing example, as it’s probably the best live streaming platform for musicians today. Start with building your strategy, from partnering with artists to creating a convenient platform for their live streams.
If you need technical and business support for your own live stream concert platform, don’t hesitate to contact us. We have expertise in web development for streaming platforms and can help you with everything from planning your project and choosing the right tech stack to developing and supporting it after the release.
